Anand, Xu play it safe

Anand seems to be bent on drawing with black. He played the Caro-Kann defence and Kasimdzhanov replied with the advanced variation. Anand opened up his position with an early pawn move in the Queen-bishop file and the game drifted to an equal position. The game was drawn after 16 moves.

In the Queens Gambit Accepted variation, Stefanova tried to seize the initiative in the beginning. The Chinese, with her cool play, nullified the attack of Stefanova and opened up the position.

On her 24th move, she played a stunning knight move, which caught the attention of 100 odd spectators present in the hall. The game was drawn after 42 moves.